Hello! Boat?

‘Hello! Boat? Hello! Boat? Hello! Boat?‘ These are the words that echo around, spoken from 10–20 mouths as you step onto the ghats of Banaras. ‘Hello! Boat? Hello! Boat?‘ After continuous repetitions, the words have a lingering effect, much like an insidious jingle that refuses to fade, puncturing the spiritual ambience of the riverfront (one tourist I met even suggested I title this book, ‘Hello! Boat?‘). As customers what we fail to understand is why, after so many rebuttals the boatmen continue to beseech us with the same nagging question. Indeed, the unfavourable initial encounter between boatmen and tourists seems at odds with what we would commonly expect from service providers, in terms of the courtesy and responsiveness to market and consumer needs, characteristic of the tourist service industry in the West.

But there is more to the story than that. The two words – Hello! Boat? – encompass the complexity of the informal institution of boating: a work system used by boatmen operating along the ghats of Banaras and based on customary rules and regulations – something I describe as a moral economy. It is unlikely that the following account of the boatmen's work system will offer any consolation to those tourists visiting Banaras.